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Lucius Tullius Castus
Lucius Tullius Castus is a Lieutenant in the Svajone Defense Force. He was recently commissioned to become an officer from his old position as NCO, and for the last seven months has been focusing on training the nascent SDF. His record of military service is fairly long and very distinguished - however, while he is an excellent soldier, his outspoken and somewhat off of mainstream viewpoints have in the past not lent him to being suited to being very diplomatic. He is unabashed about his somewhat xenophobic views, and especially is suspicious of any sort of psionic activity. Over the last little while, though, he's certainly taken efforts to curb his own outspokenness - or has been forced to by his job. Childhood Lucius was born on Mars September 19th, 2979 to Quintus Tullius Castus and Claudia Apronia, both families having long history on the red planet. Quintus was a veteran of various Guardian Fleet conflicts and a former senior NCO with very developed views on the way Mars 'should be'. This set the frame for his son Lucius, already 8 when his father retired from active service. He grew up with dreams similar to his progenitor, and at 17 was awarded his high school diploma early (through his father's influence) to join the Guardian Fleet as a marine. Guardian Fleet He served for several years as the support gunner for his squad, which initially was deployed with the Guardian Fleet battleship 'Resistance', an Iowa-Class. The ship had several run-ins with the Lunite Militia, skirmishes for all intents and purposes, and also participated (as a boarding party) in a major destruction/capture of a pirate fleet around Neptune in 2997 which had been disrupting trade for several months prior. This mission had been intended to be a surprise sweep for the Fleet, but ill-gathered intelligence turned it into a pirate ambush, which was beaten off and turned around. For this action, he received two Purple Hearts for his wounds and a Distinguished Service Cross. Due to his unit's excellent service record, they were transferred to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, a strike force of heavy infantry that were posted with the SCD Falstaff. Lucius was also promoted to Sergeant and served as the squad's commander. Here he participated in several more pirate exterminating operations, rooting them out of their compounds in the outer reaches of the Sol system. Later in 3000, the troops were stationed in Hesperia to help contain against the possible threats of revolution from a Mars that resented Earth's role in its politics; unfortunately for the Earthlings, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit was overwhelmingly Martian and was one of the first units to openly revolt against the Guardian Fleet and aid the Martian revolutionaries, becoming part of a new military that was dubbed the Martian Legions. After the relatively short and bloodless civil war (in what could have been an absolutely massive conflict), Lucius's unit was even given the distinction of having its members as part of the guard detail in the Consortium-Republic peace talks on board the Galactix, representing of course the Martian Republic's side. Due to the fact that he was still junior in experience, he remained in his position as a squad commander - now with the Legion rank of Tesserarius, which in practice was the same as an old Sergeant. Martian Legions After the fledgling Republic had proven to the galaxy that it was legitimate and had solidified its military, Lucius was reposted in the Martian Outback for the various retraining of his unit, security of the Legions' top secret base in Olympus Mons and the recruitment of Fairfax clan Outbackers into the force. Later his unit was pulled back to the MRD Falstaff and he was present during the discovery of Deserata, although he did not play a role in the first contact of the 'natives'. He stayed in his rank of Tesserarius, though he was moved around to another platoon in an effort to spread out experienced NCOs to more junior units. However, although his record indicates several more assignments until 3002, abruptly in this year his locations and assignments are listed as CLASSIFIED. Finally, with the Moebius Effect he re-appears in records transferred to one of the last units of the remaining Martian military, Legio I Pallas Concors, commanding a platoon of his own - both the platoon commander and the platoon second in command were missing. He served with distinction here, his unit having to put the massive riot down on Deserata after the First Consul, Emerson Mauthus, committed suicide in a public speech and killed the Martian Praetor. He also went on the mission going to alt-Mars to colonize it and continued after King Colin Neidermeyer got the 'fealty' of the Martian Republic in exchange for a reversal of the Moebius Effect. However, his faith in the military wavered when the Legions were dissolved into the Guardian Fleet and most severely demoted in status as well as rank - though he simply moved to platoon second in command, as a Staff Sergeant. The final straw for him was when a huge amount of his colleagues and comrades were killed in the Battle of Ganymede, when the Maltarians detonated their moon and destroyed an enormous amount of the OATO and Consortium fleets. After this conflict, Lucius Tullius Castus got an honourable discharge from the Fleet, and settled into what appeared to be civilian life. Yet things were not always as they seem. left|thumb|Lucius in his mercenary days, 3005 Life as a mercenary He decided that to earn his living, civilian life was not for him. He was still young, and still had all the élan of a soldier pumping through his veins; mercenary, he though, would be an appropriate occupation for one such as him, whose government had (in his and others' minds) apparently betrayed him. Three other Legionaries who were discharged from the Fleet after a severe blow in pay decided to form a group which work in tandem as possible. They called themselves Hesperia’s Finest. Only off-job for a bare minimum amount of time, they hopped from world to world carrying out contracts, sometimes to take out a certain crime lord’s estate, or sometimes providing some other private citizen’s defense against volatile and angry trespassers. As their experience as mercenaries increased, so did their repute, especially among the underworld. They certainly did, however, take contracts from more legal sources as well. The foursome joined the I.A.M. (Intergalactic Association of Mercenaries) and were hence put on reputable and dangerous contracts, frequently involving para-military forces. The last mission they went on, however, on La Terre in April of 3005, was the one that made Lucius’s mind up about finding another source of employment. It was here that during a bungled recon op that his best friends were killed in action, and here he decided that living by contract was no way for him to live. After a narrow escape for himself, he was contacted by Giuseppe Marcuccilli of the The Warren, inquiring whether he was interested in a job as security personnel. This seemed to be what Lucius was looking for; permanence of some sort. Packing up his belongings, he made the long trek to Tomin Kora on a rickety old freighter. The Warren Lucius's tenure at the Warren was quite eventful; he accompanied the Don on most of his missions as head of security personnel, defended the enclave from gang related attacks as well as interior strife and generally kept it in good order, at least for an establishment based on Tomin Kora. Many of the Don's dealings were handled by the Martian, almost always under the table and covertly enough that things couldn't be traced back in a negative fashion to the establishment. He also began to develop a drug habit beyond marijuana consumption, becoming a frequent user of synthetics such as cocaine and amphetamines. Luckily he never moved on to the heavier and more modern drugs and was able to get his consumption under control. After the return of Lord Fagin to Tomin Kora, Marcuccilli began to work on expanding his operation off world, specifically to New Luna. Lucius immediately fell in love with the world and applied for citizenship, making him a dual citizen of New Luna and the Solar Republic. He also formed friendships with the crews of the IND Jackal and DMS Faux and worked with them when his obligations on New Luna didn't interfere. He disappeared in June of 3006 only to resurface in August, when he amicably severed his ties with his former employer. It is unknown where he was in between these two months. When pressed about his time at the Warren by those who know this conservative, law and order soldier, he simply says that he was bringing stability to a lawless planet, and that his association with a known crime lord didn't mean anything because there were no laws to break on Tomin Kora. New Luna Militia Soon after finishing employment with the Warren, Lucius found his calling again, once more doing the thing he'd done for a good portion of his life - soldiering. He joined the New Luna Militia and after a trial period of a couple of weeks as a consultant was given the rank of Sergeant in the Marines. Already on his first day he was involved in an engagement with enemy, more specifically in the boarding action on the Galatea-class freighter Orion's Pride as it attempted a suicide mission against Hancock Station. During his first short period as squad Sergeant, he and an element of marines were sent to Vollista to help with humanitarian aide. Disobeying the local law in lieu of the chaotic situation on planet, they were heavily armed. The soldiers would say that they were attacked psionically and opened fire to defend themselves, while others might disagree, but the political fallout that came after caused Lucius to be pulled from active duty for a short period of time. Soon after, the People's Army Of New Luna began to take over terrorist action on New Luna and Sergeant Castus was called back into active duty. He served at an observation post on Jasper Point, the PANL stronghold, which was eventually burnt down by a mob, and also in other actions against these revolutionaries. It was during the course of this that he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant First Class to fill the void left by the discharge of Chief Warrant Officer Urfkgar. He was the second in command of 1st Platoon, 3rd Company, 2nd Marine Battalion and defacto platoon commander, since the Lieutenant was killed by a sniper in the PANL conflict. Since then, he was very active with the military of New Luna, submitting his troops and himself to extensive training which turned the 1st Marine Battalion into an elite fighting force within the planet's militia. Numerous other skirmishes gave the unit a veteran status, with about fifty percent of its soldiers having fought in previous militaries and ninety percent having had some combat experience. In June of 3007, he was promoted from Sergeant First Class to First Sergeant. This made him Company First Sergeant, a position which was vacant since the PANL conflict and which, as the senior NCO in the company, was essential. In September of 3007, with the looming Phyrrian crisis and much of the militia onboard Hancock, Castus was promoted to Sergeant Major. This made him the second on command of his company (in the absense of a suitable officer), chief of the station's watch, senior enlisted man in his battalion and the enlisted liason to General Abraham Gladstone, the NLM's CO. Unfortunately, while the subtleties of this job were not lost on the professional soldiers of the NLM, many of those who had no prior experience in a military or were short of experience in the NLM itself weren't understanding. His new position as Sergeant Major of the NLM wasn't given the according command respect that it merited, given the circumstances. As this was the case, General Gladstone decided to commission him (after several earlier refusals by Castus, who finally gave in) and made Lucius the NLM's Chief of Operations. Though he was an officer, he didn't change his habits much and continued to room with the same troops. Vanguard Castus was extremely pleased with a transfer back to the Vanguard, seeing that his adopted homeworld of New Luna was no longer in existance. As the war wound down, Castus was granted his request in January 3008 of moving to his pre-war rank of Sergeant Major. He was transferred, along with many marines from the 7 Combat Brigade to the new subsidiary 12th Special Forces Unit. He served as the unit's marine second in command, or 2IC, on the VAN Franklin. Since the war has ended, the 12th SFU performed many months of training operations in the Martian outback and other locations. More recently, it had been posted to Hancock Station to assist as a policing force, partially, but also to act as a staging base for interstellar operations in hopeful cooperation with the Allied Force. Hiverspace In preparation for what the Vanguard saw as an unknown event which had prompted the opening of rifts in the Orion Arm, it commissioned several missions to head beyond the Nexus and explore. One of the missions, the smaller of the two, was to take the IND Equinox (a Vanguard special forces scout ship) and partner up with the crew of the LMS Artemis to explore the region of Hiverspace. The second mission was to use the majority of the 12th SFU and the VAN Franklin as its base, exploring one of the other universes connected from the Nexus. Lucius, however, was injured in a cargo loading incident during prep of the LMS Artemis and knocked unconcious. He woke up several weeks after the rifts sucked Hancock Station through into Hiverspace. Ultimately, the small Vanguard force left the Artemis after fulfilling the proper severance procedures of their contract with the Artemis. The thinned down SF crew joined up instead with the Union Fleet officers on the ISS Tharsis, whose CO accepted them aboard as part of the security contingent. After a very short period of time, this too did not appear to work out. The Tharsis's crew split off into mainly civilian employment. After some job searching, Lucius and the remainder of his old Vanguard group joined up with the nascent Svajone Defense Force. Svajone Defense Force Evidently, Lucius figured that the new station Svajone, run by an elderly man calling himself Mikage, was the best chance for Outversers like himself to set up a normal government as well as keep their own customs and independence. He inquired as to its security services and quickly joined with them, bringing what few ex-Vanguard soldiers he had with. There they began to form the training cadre for the Svajone Defense Force, usually running courses to bring members all onto the same page. Many of those joining the SDF were veterans of other forces, so it was a process of bringing them all into the same system. Later, he did basic qualification courses for those who were new to military lifestyle. He worked as part of Training Support Company for approximately 7 months. Recently, he was commissioned and promoted from his old rank of Chief Warrant Officer to Lieutenant. His assignment, as of yet, has not been set. Religious Beliefs Lucius was born into and is a very active member of the Religio Romana. He is known by those who are familiar with him to personally sacrifice on a regular basis. He is known to especially favour the Gods Iuppiter Optimus Maximus, Mars and Ianus, though in accordance with custom would never think of concentrating solely on these three. Since he entered Hiverspace, Castus has not lapsed in observance of his religious custom and continues to conduct his own private ceremonies, usually with other Martian ex-pats on the Svajone. Gunsmith right|thumb|Tactical Advantage Industries 6.5mm Battle Rifle As a gunsmith, Lucius is extremely accomplished, though he doesn't make this a public fact. He's been a qualified weapons technician since his second year in the military. Most of his work has been done on improving weapons design for the various armed services he's been with. He's worked on modified ten millimetre pistols to replace the Vanguard's old service pulse pistol and nine millimetre. An improved design, commissioned by Gladius Industries of Elysium was adopted as the Vanguard's official sidearm. Castus's design for the 6.5mm Battle Rifle was picked up by Tactical Advantage Industries in 3007, and was been adopted by all Vanguard special forces units. There were plans to adopt this weapon across the Vanguard for all projectile purposes, since it is modular and can be adapted to various roles. Obviously, since the rift opened up, the only person with plans to build such weapons are Castus himself. Badges Tullius Castus, Lucius Tullius Castus, Lucius Tullius Castus, Lucius category:Pages with Badges category:Encyclopedia Intergalactica category:Saga Benefactors category:Jeff Ryan Web Category:Mika Web Category:Gideon_Web category:OtherSpace Characters